My Thoughts Were on Denver Broncos Kenny McKinley Today

Kenny McKinley gets lifted by Nate Swift after a touchdown against the San Francisco 49ers. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

885

Reads

3

Comments

My thoughts were on Denver Broncos Kenny McKinley today. We tried to hang on to him but he had to fly fly far far away...

Something in head coach Josh McDaniels' moving and heartfelt address to the media regarding the tragic loss of life of extended family member Kenny McKinley stuck with me.

"It makes the game seem kind of small..."

Now as I am celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles, a Biblical Thanksgiving harvest festival, (which may have very well indeed sparked the notion for our very own Thanksgiving holiday that was based on a harvest festival in its own right) my thoughts where on the Denver Broncos' Kenny McKinley.

Like any Biblical Holy Day, today’s has its ritual as well, and the ritual for the feast of Tabernacles is to build a makeshift dwelling out of tree and palm branches, to add to that you are supposed to dwell in this makeshift hut for seven days.

This commemorates the period when the slaves of Egypt were set free and wandered in the wilderness in temporary dwellings until they reached the promise land, this also symbolizes our temporary dwelling in our very own tabernacle, temple, body, or for some like me a shack, until we get to the promise land, Heaven.

So I am lying here thinking what could it have been that made someone who possessed such a bright smile, such a great character, and soul to lose sight of the light in the promise of hope, when he had so much going for him in light of perusing his dreams to go and shatter the light his life to oblivion?

It's the institution of the bottom-line, that would dare place the price of gold on existence when in reality it is by far much more precious. This institutional process attempts to mold our existence into a monetary value, where our net worth is not based on the phenomenal existence of life, but on paper? The institution has monopolized life as if existence was a game, rather than a matter of life and death.

Nothing like death to make the game seem so small...

As I write this I am out here in my makeshift dwelling of branches, dodging raindrops while watching the spiders spin their webs, ants crawling all over the bedding, lizards bobbing their heads, and the Orion constellation on my 8-month-old's face from the mosquito bites last night.

The white noise of the bustling traffic, neighbors, birds, small planes flying low overhead preparing to land, and all the while I am entrenching myself into getting grounded in the basics of life with the unencumbered view of the institutions cloud of dust from the stirring rat race who are losing touch with themselves in their dire attempt to increase the value of their net worth.

A Bible verse comes to mind:

Be still and know that I am God.

A melody comes to mind:

And I think to my self what a wonderful world...

My thoughts were on Kenny McKinley today, and as I dwell in this temporary dwelling, like so many Broncos and South Carolina Gamecock players and fans, like so many family members and friends, I died a little today, making my stay in this temporary dwelling just that much shorter than it was before...

Alter Bridge 'Black Bird'

"The willow it weeps todayA breeze from the distance is calling your nameUnfurl your black wings and waitAcross the horizon it's coming to sweep you awayIt's coming to sweep you away

[Chorus:]Let the wind carry you homeBlackbird fly awayMay you never be broken again

The fragile cannot endureThe wrecked and the jaded a place so impureThe static of this cruel worldCause some birds to fly long before they've seen their dayLong before they've seen their day

[Chorus:]Let the wind carry you homeBlackbird fly awayMay you never be broken again

Beyond the suffering you've knownI hope you find your wayMay you never be broken again

Ascend may you find no resistanceKnow that you made such a differenceAll you leave behind will live to the endThe cycle of suffering goes onBut memories of you stay strongSomeday I too will fly and find you again

[Chorus:]Let the wind carry you homeBlackbird fly awayMay you never be broken again

Beyond the suffering you've knownI hope you find your wayMay you never be broken againMay you never be broken again"